Top comb

ABSTRACT

A top comb for a comber comprising a top comb plate tappered at one end and having a stepped portion formed therein and a presser plate, with a stepped portion, adjustably secured to said comb plate by means of screws. A needle-row ribbon having a strip plate soldered thereto is inserted into the stepped portion of the comb plate and is removably secured thereto by means of said presser plate.

Enited States Patent Nakagawa et a1.

[54] TOP COMB [72] Inventors: Junichiro Nakagawa; Etsuo Kurata,

both of Oazaoka, Japan [73] Assignee: Nakagawa Seisakusho Co., Ltd.,

Anomura, Agegun, Mieken, Japan [22] Filed: July 20, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 56,493

52 U.S.Cl ..19/221 51 Int.Cl. ..D0lg 19/10 58 FieldofSearch ..19/129,115,215,221,222,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,456,302 7/1969 Nakagawa 19/234 1 Sept. 5, 1972 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 35,551 12/1953 Poland ..l9/22l 367,529 l/1923 Germany ..l9/223 Primary ExaminerDorsey Newton Attorney-Whittemore, Hulbert and Belknap [5 7] ABSTRACT 1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures TOP COMB SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a top comb for a comber in which a needle-row ribbon can be easily mounted on or removed from a top comb plate and in which said ribbon, when mounted, can be securely and accurately fixed in position with the needle points being correctly aligned with each other. More particularly, it relates to a top comb of the type just described, in which the tail ends of the needles in said ribbon, which has a strip plate soldered thereto, are attached to a stepped portion formed in the body of said top comb plate. The lower stage of said strip plate is pressed against the side of the top comb plate with a stepped portion of a presser plate while the inner side of said presser plate is pressed against the side of said comb plate, so as to securely hold the needle row ribbon between said presser plate and top comb plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the invention FIG. 3 is a partial enlarged view of FIG. 2. and FIG. 4 is a side view of a prior art invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART In heretofore used top comb devices, the needles are arranged in a fixed direction and at a predetermined density on a top comb plate to which they are secured by soldering. It requires considerable skill to solder, the needles to a top comb plate. Rust proofing treatment is also required, so that extreme difficulty is encountered in case it is necessary to repair or replace those needles which are damaged or worn out during operation of the comber. In such a case,, the top comb is usually demounted from the comber and sent to a specialist or a maker for repair. It is necessary therefore to have available many spare top combs for use during the time when the damaged or worn out ones are undergoing repair. Also, much time, labor and expense are required for the demounting of the top comb from the com ber and for the transportation and repair thereof.

The top comb of the present invention is completely free of such defects. According to the present invention, it is possible to easily insert the needles to a top comb plate without possessing any special skill. In case such needles are damaged or worn out in use, they may be easily replaced with new ones.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A stepped portion 4is formed at the tapered end 1 of a plate 3, said taper end 1 having formed therein a threaded hole 2. A needle-row ribbon 6 soldered to a strip plate is fitted in said stepped position in juxtaposed relation thereto. There is also provided a presser plate 7 which has formed therein the suitably spaced elongated holes 8 and which also has at its end a stepped portion 9. The face 10, as best shown in FIG. 3, extending from said stepped portion to the pointed end assumes a slight angular deviation from the side face 11. The stepped portion of said presser plate 7 is engaged with said strip plate 5 and threadedly secured to plate 3 by means of screw 12 as shown in FIG. 2. When it is desired to hold the needle rowribbon 6 in position, the base end of said ribbon is engaged with the stepped portion 4 of the plate while the stepped portion 9 of the presser plate 7 is engaged with the strip plate 5 of the ribbon 6, and then said presser plate 7 is pulled upward in the drawing along the elongated holes 8, as shown in FIG. 1, and fixed at a desired position by screw 12, whereby the needle-row ribbon can be securely held exactly at the desired position.

Thus, in the top comb of the present invention, extremely accurate alignment of the needle points, which is the most important factor for plate precision, is achieved by placing the base end of the needle-row ribbon in abutment on the stepped portion 4 of the comb plate.

Thus, by placing the stepped portion 9 of presser plate 7 against the lower stage of soldered strip plate 5- and applying pressure toward the stepped portion 4 of top comb plate 3 and by fastening the screw 12, the needle-row ribbon can be firmly and securely held in position by presser plate 7 and plate 3.

In the conventional top comb plate, there is provided a stiffening plate D in order to avoid meshing engagement between the tip of the steel plate of the top comb cleaner and the tail ends of the needles when said cleaner descends. However, in the present device, the presser plate 7 doubles as a stiffening plate, so that there is no need for providing such a stiffening plate. Also, in the conventional invention, the end position of the stiffening plate is extremely unstable and inaccurate, and therefore, when vertical adjustment of the needle point position of the comb plate is made, the distance over which said stiffening plate fails to move vertically with the comb plate amounts to 3 to 5 mm. Whereas, in the present invention, since the presser plate moves up and down with the comb plate, it is possible to select the desired distance (in FIG. 2) from the base point of the needle projection to the tip of back plate.

What we claim is:

1. Top comb structure comprising an elongated top comb plate tapered at one end with a recess extending into one side of said one end thereof, said recess having in the area of said taper a bottom surface angled to match said taper of the top comb plate, a needle-row ribbon extending parallel to the recess having one end thereof removably positioned within the recess in the top comb plate, an elongated strip plate extending parallel to the needle-row ribbon and soldered thereto on the side of said needle-row ribbon opposite the recess near one end of said needle-row ribbon, and elongated presser plate having a raised portion on one side at one end thereof forming an L-shaped cross section with the outermost face of the raised portion at an angle matching the taper of the bottom surface of the recess to press firmly against said needle-row ribbon, said strip plate abutting against said raised portion, and connecting means to removably secure said presser plate to said top comb plate with the needle-row ribbon and strip plate fixedly secured therebetween, said means comprising threaded openings in the top comb plate and corresponding openings near one end of the presser plate, at least one of which openings in the presser plate is elongated, and threaded members inserted through the openings in the top comb plate and presser plate when said openings are aligned 

1. Top comb structure comprising an elongated top comb plate tapered at one end with a recess extending into one side of said one end thereof, said recess having in the area of said taper a bottom surface angled to match said taper of the top comb plate, a needle-row ribbon extending parallel to the recess having one end thereof removably positioned within the recess in the top comb plate, an elongated strip plate extending parallel to the needle-row ribbon and soldered thereto on the side of said needle-row ribbon opposite the recess near one end of said needle-row ribbon, and elongated presser plate having a raised portion on one side at one end thereof forming an L-shaped cross section with the outermost face of the raised portion at an angle matching the taper of the bottom surface of the recess to press firmly against said needle-row ribbon, said strip plate abutting against said raised portion, and connecting means to removably secure said presser plate to said top comb plate with the needlerow ribbon and strip plate fixedly secured therebetween, said means comprising threaded openings in the top comb plate and corresponding openings near one end of the presser plate, at least one of which openings in the presser plate is elongated, and threaded members inserted through the openings in the top comb plate and presser plate when said openings are aligned. 